Australian junior middleweight champion Nikita ‘The Butcher’ Tszyu (9-0, 7 KOs) survived a mid-fight scare from Danilo Creati (8-2-1, 1 KO) to retain his title by 10-round unanimous decision at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, Australia on Wednesday night.

Sydney southpaw Tszyu, 26, started the fight well, applying effective pressure. His sniper-like left cross was matched with a hard right hook that had reddened Creati’s face as early as the second round. It looked like it was going to be an early night.

But the 34-year-old Creati, who was born in Chieti, Italy but boxes out of Sydney, hung tough against the sharpshooting Tszyu, who began attacking the body with more frequency in the fourth. Against the run of play Creati did some decent work in the fifth, even though Tszyu claimed the round courtesy of his hooks and uppercuts to the head.

The pace slowed in the sixth until Creati landed a surprise right hand that rocked Tszyu and suddenly had him holding on for dear life. Tszyu navigated his way through the round and wrested back control of the fight in the seventh, determined to get his pound of flesh back.

Creati proved his toughness in the eighth when two bombs bounced of his head but didn’t dent him. Tszyu, desperate to put an exclamation point on the fight in the final two rounds, let his power shots go but couldn’t put Creati away.

It was a strong performance from Tszyu, who despite a shaky moment in the sixth, dominated the fight. This was reflected in the scorecards with judge Leanne Reid awarding him the bout 100-89, judge Will Soulos scoring it 99-90 and judge Brad Vocale seeing it 100-88.

It was just the second time Tszyu had been extended the distance following his six-round victory Ben Horn, the brother of former WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn, at the same venue two years ago.

Nikita Tszyu – Photo courtesy of No Limit Boxing

“That was a tough one,” Tszyu admitted after the Creati fight.

“It was very tricky. He could honestly take a shot. I felt I hurt him early and I felt I could have stopped him but he kept enduring and every shot he recovered from. Hats off to him.

“With his resilience, he honestly did surprise me. But I knew he would be tricky, I knew he would be a very slippery opponent and he was. He’s got toughness in him and I appreciate that. It’s the Italian in him, the stallion.

Speaking about the sixth round when he got buzzed, Tszyu said: “I wasn’t concerned. I’ve copped worse, but the Hordern, I always get rocked here. What’s with this place? We’ve got to stop having fights here!

“It was great to go to 10 rounds as well. It was great to get that experience in and really have to endure a tricky chess match.”

There is a long list of local names queuing up for a shot at Tszyu, including Brock Jarvis, Wade Ryan, Koen Mazoudier and Ben Hussain, but the reigning national champion at 154-pounds refused to be drawn on who he would like to face next.

“Whoever my promoters, whoever my manager puts in front of me, that’s who I am going with,” Tszyu said.

“Simple as that.”

In other notable results, female WBA junior bantamweight titleholder Clara Lescurat (11-0, 4 KOs) retained her belt against Linn Sandstrom (8-3-2, 2 KOs) with a unanimous decision victory by scores of 100-90, 99-91 and 97-93.

In an IBF light heavyweight eliminator Malik Zinad (22-0, 16 KOs) scored a surprise victory over favourite Jerome Pampellone (18-1, 11 KOs) by 12-round majority decision. The scores in that bout were 117-111 twice and 114-114.

In middleweight action Cesar Mateo Tapia (17-0, 10 KOs) outpointed previously undefeated Keiber Gonzalez (20-1, 17 KOs) over 10 heats by scores of 98-92, 98-92 and 97-93.